In vitro assessment of the effectiveness of non-nutritive sorbent materials as binding agents for boar taint compounds

Boar taint, an off-odor and an off-flavor in the meat from some uncastrated male pigs, is due to high levels of the testicular steroid hormone, androstenone, and the indole, skatole. Thus far, there are no known methods for controlling both androstenone and skatole through dietary means. We tested the adsorbent agents, cholestyramine (CH), activated carbon (AC), tween-60 (Tween), bentonite (BNT) and polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) for binding androstenone, estrone (E(1)), estrone sulfate (E(1)S) and skatole from buffer solutions in an in vitro system. The goal was to determine the potential utility of these binding agents as feed additives to control boar taint. Michaelis-Menten analysis was utilized to determine the effectiveness of the adsorbents. At pH 7.4, E(1)S was bound to AC and CH with the highest B(max) (maximum binding), whereas Tween and AC had the greatest B(max) for E(1). The B(max) for skatole at pH 7.4 was highest for AC, CH and PVPP. AC had a higher B(max) for androstenone than CH and Tween. The B(max) values at pH 3.0 with E(1)S for AC and CH were essentially 100%, whereas the binding of Tween to E(1)S at pH 3.0 decreased by 49.5% from binding at pH 7.4 (P < 0.05). The Ad(int) values, which represent efficiency of binding, illustrated that AC bound E(1), androstenone and skatole with greater efficiency than the other binding agents at pH 7.4, whereas AC bound E(1)S as efficiently as CH. We conclude that AC was the most effective adsorbent agent for binding E(1), E(1)S, androstenone and skatole in vitro, followed by CH, Tween, PVPP and lastly BNT. These adsorbent agents may be useful for binding boar taint compounds in in vivo studies to decrease the risk of boar taint.